4-Step Winter Skincare Routine & Best Products

Dermatologist Tips to Prevent Dry, Cracked Winter Skin

Winter weather is really hard on your skin. In the middle of winter your skin will show signs of dryness – rough and scaly texture, tightness and itching, maybe even cracking and stinging. If you don't intervene it can lead to severely dry skin with 'winter itch' [1] (a real diagnostic term!) and chapping.

Changing your skin care routine for the winter is as important as wearing a warm coat and boots. Yep, your skin needs protection from the elements as much as you do.

Complete Winter Skincare Routine

Have healthy supple skin all winter by changing how you cleanse, treat, moisturize, and protect your skin. Your face and lips need different care than your hands and body skin.

Below, I explain the optimal winter skincare routine, including tips for different skin types and skin problems such as eczema, rosacea, acne, etc.

Morning Routine

Your morning winter routine needs to set up your skin to withstand the dry indoor and outdoor conditions and elements.

1. Cleanse

Cleanse only the parts of your skin that really need it including the face, chest, and upper back which are oily, feet, and skin folds including armpits and groin. The rest of your body skin (arms, legs, tummy skin) is sufficiently cleansed with the rinsing of lather from washing these areas.

• Face: Wash your face with a pH balanced cleanser such as my Extremely Gentle Facial wash and warm (not steamy hot) water.
• Body: If you shower in the morning, use a simple soap like my gentle, hypoallergenic Naturally Best Bar Soap.
• Ensure you rinse off all soap entirely, especially under rings and between fingers, where chapping often starts.
• Sensitive skin: If you have eczema, skin allergies, or other extremely sensitive skin conditions use a pH neutral VaniCream Cleansing Bar for facial and body care for the entire family.
• If you struggle with skin problems such as acne, clogged pores and oily skin, rosacea and/or seborrhea, consider using a medicated cleanser or cleanser fortified with ingredients that target these issues. Options include:
• Acne and oily skin with clogged pores: AHA/BHA medicated Acne Treatment Cleanser.
• Rosacea and seborrhea: Calming Zinc pyrithione soap.
• Minimize exfoliation in winter. It can weaken the skin barrier and may lead to dry skin.

2. Correct

This step in the routine helps you correct facial complexion and skin problems like acne, wrinkles, loose skin, age spots, rosacea and facial redness.

• Aging or dehydrated skin: Every morning, apply Instantly Luminous Multi-Action Serum under your moisturizer to instantly plump wrinkles and fine lines.
• Facial redness and inflammation from rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis: Apply Green Tea Antioxidant Skin Therapy to boost your skin antioxidant reserve.
• If you struggle with acne: Apply a non-drying medicated cream such as Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment Cream to treat pimples and prevent new outbreaks.
• Anti-aging skin concerns such as age spots from sun (solar lentiginies) or keratosis (seborrheic keratosis), wrinkles, crepey skin and skin thinning: Use AHA glycolic acid face cream but less frequently in the winter. The powerful ingredient will exfoliate skin, possibly predisposing to dryness when the weather is harsh.

"[The Green Tea cream] is one of my favorite corrective creams. It does the job. Since using this cream my skin has done a 180. Less redness, facial dermatitis along the sides of my nose.” D. C.

3. Hydrate

Different areas of the body and complexion types need a different degree of hydration to avoid dry skin during the cold season.

• Face: Apply my rich Daily Deeply Moisturizing Face Cream within 3 minutes after toweling skin.
• Repair skin barrier and calm inflammation by adding a few drops of Omega Enriched Face Booster Oil to your facial moisturizer to enrich its healing properties. You can also apply it alone for a deeply hydrating skin treatment.
• Body: Within 3 minutes of bathing, apply my natural fragrance-free Face and Body Lotion to prevent dry arm, leg, and body skin.
• Hands: Use my Dry Skin Hand Cream several times a day, especially if you have chapped hands.
• Lips: Apply Natural Lip Balm often throughout the day, including at bedtime.

4. Protect

Protect your face and all uncovered skin with broad spectrum sunscreen from sun up to sun down all year round, and you will be rewarded with stronger and younger looking skin for your lifetime.

• Apply broad spectrum zinc oxide sunscreen every day when heading outside, such as this Sheer Strength Pure Physical Matte Tinted Broad Spectrum SPF 50+.
• Doubtful? Get my UV Detecto ring and watch the beads turn colors – a trick they only do in the presence of skin damaging UV rays!

Night Routine

Your nightly skin care routine in the winter looks much like your daytime routine with a few therapeutic opportunities to restore and heal dry skin.

1. Cleanse as you did in the morning to remove the day’s accumulation of dirt, smog, debris and product residue.
2. Correct skin problems as you did in the morning with the exception of retinol, which is a bedtime product:

• Skin thinning, age related concerns, skin pigment, blackheads, clogged pores: Apply a professional retinol product such as Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Night Cream after washing and toweling dry. It can be used on the face, neck, decollete, and the back of your hands.

3. Hydrate with the richest skin cream or oil and let it soak in deeply as you sleep.

• Apply Omega Enriched Booster Oil at night over Retinol. Alternatively, you can also boost your favorite face moisturizer with a few drops.
• Hands benefit from a generous layer of Dry Skin Hand Repair Cream under cotton gloves.
• Severely dry, chapped, and cracked hands: Apply Bag Balm under cotton gloves.

Skincare Kits for Your Complete Winter Routine

I handpicked complimentary products and ingredients for common skin conditions and created the following kits for your winter skincare routine. Keep your skin radiant, plus save when buying them as a Kit.

Most Popular: Complete Skin Care Kit: Great foundation routine for most skin types with a cleanser, serum, moisturizer, and SPF.

Anti-Aging: Ageless Rejuvenation Skin Care Kit: Dermatologist developed highest quality medical grade, pure products. Target skin aging, soften fine lines, and reduce age spots.

Rosacea: Rosacea Therapy Kit: These are all the products you need for your routine. I use these for my patients in my dermatology practice to fight rosacea and facial redness.

Hands: Dry Hand Skin Repair Kit or Dry Hand Treatment Survival Kit. Everything you need to heal your dry chapped hands.

Explore Further:

• Tips to Heal Extremely Dry, Cracked Hands
• How to Use Retin-A Tretinoin for Anti-Aging, Acne and Wrinkles
• Dry Flaky Skin Around Nose and Eyebrows: Treating Seborrheic Dermatitis

Additional Winter Skincare Tips

• Avoid hot water to shower and wash your hands: It strips skin oils and can fuel inflammation, leading to itchy, dry winter skin. Harsh soaps only make the problem worse. Use lukewarm water and gentle soaps, and apply moisturizer immediately after toweling dry to lock in hydration.
• Exposure to elements and winter outdoors activities: Cover as much of your skin as possible with facial mufflers, gloves, goggles, scarves, and ski masks.
• Use a humidifier to add moisture into the air: If the indoor air in your home is really dry, consider running a humidifier to prevent moisture from being pulled out of your skin. Ambient humidity under 85% creates a gradient that will pull water from your skin. Moisturizers and skin creams help slow the process but excessively dry air can be humidified to help.
• Drink plenty of water to keep your body healthy and hydrated, just as you do during the rest of the year. Know, however, that drinking water does not treat dry skin. Nope, your skin is hydrated from the outside and depends on your skin care routine. Only the most severe cases of physiologic dehydration will result in skin dehydration.
• Diet: Eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and veggies. In winter, we gravitate to comfort foods. For many of us, these may be warm simple carbs slathered with oil and sauce. Remember that your skin reflects what you eat. A few simple tips like eating beta carotene rich foods (such as kale, winter squash and carrots) will give your skin a warm glow in the dead of winter. Pick healthy fats like olive oil, limit sugar and refined carbs to reduce acne and inflammation, and eat the rainbow of produce - it’s harder in winter than it is in summer but not impossible!

Explore Further:

• 30 Day Clear Skin Diet: Reduce Acne & Have a Warm Healthy Glowing Skin

How to Choose the Best Winter Skincare Products

Let's look at what to consider when choosing products and ingredients for your winter skincare. We will cover cleansers, serums to correct skin issues, moisturizers, sun protection - and recommended products for each step.

Cleanse with Gentle Soaps

Avoid using harsh soaps in winter. Use only gentle cleansers and mild hand soaps that rinse off entirely. Retained soap residue pulls out lipids and will damage skin protein even after you have towel dried your skin.

Ingredients to Look For

Choose naturally-made soaps created from botanical oils that have retained natural glycerin, a byproduct produced during soap-making. Glycerin soaps are another option. You can also choose a SYNDET which stands for synthetic detergent. These are the sensitive skin products that are pH balanced. Avoid sodium lauryl sulfate SYNDETS.

Recommended Products

Face: Extremely Gentle Foaming Facial Cleanser

This pH balanced cleanser is my personal favorite to use 365 days a year. It removes makeup, sunscreen, dirt and debris without drying out skin.

Body: Naturally Best Bar Soap

Handmade hypoallergenic soap, gentle enough for your sensitive skin, while still an effective cleanser. The best organic ingredients, no chemical additives, fragrance free - ideal for sensitive skin and the entire family.

Acne and oily skin with clogged pores: AHA/BHA Medicated Acne Treatment Cleanser

Cleans skin and fights acne at the same time. Opens clogged pores, treats blackheads, and cleans oily skin. It’s pH balanced fortified with green tea antioxidants to help calm skin inflammation.

Rosacea and seborrhea: Calming Zinc Pyrithione Bar Soap

If you are prone to seborrhea or rosacea, the pyrithione zinc in this natural bar soap helps quiet these conditions.

“This is my everyday facial cleanser. The zinc controls the SebDerm and the oatmeal in the soap is extremely calming. I recommend this soap for anyone with SebDerm. Nhattem”

Sensitive skin: VaniCream Cleansing Bar Soap

An economical, pH neutral SYNDET cleanser good for facial and body skincare for the entire family if you have extremely sensitive skin. I use it in my dermatology practice for my patients with eczema and skin allergies.

Correct Skin Complexion Issues

Using the right face serums is the key to correcting common skin problems. Serums and creams with pharmaceutical-grade active ingredients target issues like acne, dark circles, fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation problems (melasma, sun spots), loose and/or crepey skin, rosacea and facial redness.

Ingredients to Look For

Corrective serums with medical-grade ingredients go beyond surface care, targeting underlying issues to restore balance and vitality to your skin. Look for powerful ingredients like hyaluronic acid, sodium PCA (part of your skin’s Natural Moisturizing Factor), glycolic acid, retinol, borage oil, and pharmaceutical grade green tea.

Recommended Products

Aging or dehydrated skin: Instantly Luminous Multi-Action Hyaluronic Acid Serum

Advanced skin care technology for firmer, brighter, and smoother skin instantly. Loaded with water binders, including sodium PCA, and great to apply under your winter moisturizer if your skin is severely dehydrated. Instantly plump fine lines and wrinkles. I use this every morning under my moisturizer.

Facial redness: Green Tea Antioxidant Skin Therapy

Facial redness tends to flare up in fall and winter. Green Tea helps sooth the inflammation of rosacea, seborrhea and slightly chapped facial skin.

Acne: Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment Cream

5% benzoyl peroxide in this medical-grade acne treatment cream makes it the most effective for treating acne-causing bacteria.

Anti-aging skin concerns: AHA glycolic acid face cream

It brightens and smooths skin tone within days and lightens hyperpigmentation like age spots, melasma, or acne scars within weeks, making skin appear more radiant.

Aging, pigments: Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Cream

Use at bedtime. Highest concentration medical-grade all-trans-retinol. Reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and pores. Smooth and brighten thinning skin, irregular pigment from sun or age spots, and melasma.

Explore Further:

• How to Use Glycolic Acid Skin Care Products 

Use Hydrocortisone Ointment at the First Signs of Chapping

This is non-prescription. You can apply it twice daily to speed healing. If skin fails to improve, see your dermatologist. Don’t scratch if skin chapping becomes itchy because that can lead to worsening of the rash and even infection. Know that there are side effects to the use of topical hydrocortisone which include skin thinning. It also may not be safe to use on the face near the eyes – which makes physician supervision even more important.

Hydrate with Rich Moisturizers

This is not a time of year to be fussy about the feel of moisturizer on your skin. Dermatologist recommended winter skin care always means using a deeply hydrating and hypoallergenic moisturizer. It’s essential that you switch up your moisturizers in the cold season to richer products to protect your skin from winter’s skin chapping and dryness.

Ingredients to Look For

You need a rich and occlusive product that traps moisture in your skin. Look for ingredients like botanical oils that help restore lost lipids, including jojoba, sunflower, avocado, kukui, castor seed, pomegranate, rosehip, coconut, ceramides, squalane. Butters such as shea and cocoa are time honored emollients, too. Even lanolin is great if you are not allergic to wool. Products with water-binding ingredients are important. Top choices include glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and sodium PCA (part of your skin’s Natural Moisturizing Factor).

Recommended Products

Face: Daily Moisturizing Face Cream

I love the feel of this facial cream on my skin. It deeply hydrates dry skin with a combination of ceramides, plant derived squalane, glycerin and soybean extract, yet it never feels heavy or oily. It is acne-friendly and non-comedogenic.

Repair skin barrier and calm inflammation: Omega Enriched Face Booster Oil

Omega enriched with borage oil for skin barrier repair and to calm inflammation. Fast-absorbing facial oil that gives you that “STAT” recharge to balance hydration and load your skin with organic antioxidant and vitamin rich botanical actives. Add a few drops to your moisturizer or use alone for a deep replenishment of lipids to heal dry facial skin. It’s also an ideal beard oil to fight winter beardruff.

Body: All Natural Face and Body Lotion

Made with organic oils in a natural formulation that supports healthy skin barrier and never feels greasy. This lotion rubs into hairy skin well making it a men's favorite head to toe moisturizer. Great for the entire family and great next to a sink to apply after handwashing to prevent hand chapping. Fragrance free and ideal for even the most sensitive skin.

Hands: Dry Skin Hand Repair Cream

The technology in this really good unscented hand lotion holds water in your skin with glycerin. At the same time, it provides a protective barrier by having just the right amount of dimethicone. It leaves your hands hydrated but not greasy, so it's perfect for use all day long. Great men's hand cream too.

“I'm totally obsessed! It's deeply hydrating and makes my hands feel so incredibly soft. What I love most is that I've never found a hand cream before that is so completely non-greasy, I can't even tell I have it on. It's like wearing weightless, invisible gloves. I can truly say, with confidence, that this is the best hand cream I've ever tried.” PJ,B

Lips: Natural Moisturizing Lip Balm

Certified organic for safe and natural lip hydration. Protects, hydrates, and helps to heal chapped lips. Great for the entire family.

Lip skin has less barrier strength and chaps easily, as you know. Keep hypoallergenic lip balm handy and apply it often, including at bedtime. Avoid allergens in lip balms that lead to chapping and ‘lip balm addiction’. Ingredients to avoid are camphor, menthol, fragrance and salicylic acid.

Protect Your Skin with Proper Sunscreen

Yes, the sun feels softer in winter but its damage is still real. Winter sun can burn, and lead to sun spots, wrinkles, and skin cancer. Wear proper sunscreen on all exposed skin year round.

Ingredients to Look For

Look for broad spectrum sunscreen with 5% or higher zinc oxide and iron oxide to protect skin from UVA, digital screen, and visible light. Choose pure mineral hypoallergenic sunscreens with pharmaceutical-grade antioxidants including green tea polyphenols, resveratrol, biotin (a B-vitamin), co-Q10, Emblica (Indian gooseberry, an ayurvedic herb that is arguably the most important medicinal plant in Indian traditional medicine), Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola an herbal medicinal plant and skin healer), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and vitamin E.

Avoid chemical sunscreen ingredients such as oxybenzone/benzophenone, avobenzone, homosalate, etc.

Recommended Products

Sheer Strength Pure Physical Matte Tinted Broad Spectrum SPF 50+

Pure mineral hypoallergenic sunscreen ideal for all skin types.

Shine free, water resistant, great for sensitive skin, combining antioxidants and tinting technology to hide minor complexion flaws. Completely free of notorious chemical sunscreen ingredients.

Protect Your Skin This Winter with a 4-Step Routine

Cold weather outside, and hot dehumidified air indoors, pull out skin water to damage your skin barrier. Important barrier lipids [1] are lost and skin protein is damaged. It ‘snowballs’ metaphorically until chapped irritant dermatitis hurts, itches and leaves your skin inflamed.

To keep your skin healthy during the harsh winter months, follow the 4-step winter skincare routine in this guide. Choose the right natural products tailored to your skin's needs, ensuring it stays nourished and protected from the cold, dry air. By choosing gentle cleansers, effective serums, rich moisturizers, and mineral sunscreens, you'll be better equipped to prevent winter dryness, irritation, and chapping.

Implementing this routine with high-quality, dermatologist-recommended products will keep your skin smooth, hydrated, and resilient all winter long.

Prepare for the Changing Seasons with These Guides

• Men's Fall and Winter Grooming Tips: Face and Scalp Dandruff
• Spring Skincare Transition
• Summer Skin Care Tips
• Fall Skin Care Tips: How to Transition Your Routine from Summer

Your Guides to Winter Skincare:

• Winter Skin Care Routine, Tips & Best Products
• Nail Care Secrets for the Winter Months
• Do You Need Sunscreen in Winter, Or in The Morning and After 4pm?
• How to Treat Dry Skin Caused from Retin A Use in the Winter
• How to Prevent Seasonal Winter Acne
• Skin Care Products For A Sunny Winter Getaway
• The Best Winter Sunscreens
• How to Treat a Dry Nose from Winter or Chemotherapy

References

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2. Park EH, Jo DJ, Jeon HW, Na SJ. Effects of winter indoor environment on the skin: Unveiling skin condition changes in Korea. Skin Res Technol. 2023 Jun;29(6):e13397. doi: 10.1111/srt.13397. PMID: 37357654; PMCID: PMC10264749.
3. Jessica W. Hui-Beckman, Elena Goleva, Donald Y.M. Leung, Byung Eui Kim, The impact of temperature on the skin barrier and atopic dermatitis, Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Volume 131, Issue 6, 2023, Pages 713-719, ISSN 1081-1206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2023.08.007. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1081120623005690)
4. Specht S, Persaud Y. Asteatotic Eczema. [Updated 2023 Jul 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549807/
5. Ahmed ZH, Agarwal K, Sarkar R. Hand Dermatitis: A Comprehensive Review with Special Emphasis on COVID-19 Pandemic. Indian J Dermatol. 2021 Sep-Oct;66(5):508-519. doi: 10.4103/ijd.ijd_281_21. PMID: 35068506; PMCID: PMC8751728.